Corbett signs Pa. budget, as bigger agenda stalls

In this June 30, 2013 photo, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, surrounded by House Republicans, reacts after signing the 2013-14 state budget after the House approved the Senate-passed budget in Harrisburg, Pa. At left is House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. William Adolph, R-Delaware County, and at right is Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley. (AP Photo/The Patriot-News, Dan Gleiter)

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The main Pennsylvania state budget bill became law with Gov. Tom Corbett’s signature on Sunday night, as he acknowledged that the wider agenda he had sought — to overhaul public employee pension systems, privatize wine and liquor sales and increase transportation funding — has stalled until the fall.

Still, Corbett, a Republican, did not express disappointment. Instead, he sought to highlight the progress that had happened in a Legislature controlled by GOP allies on complicated legislation that was heavily lobbied by a wide variety of interest groups.

“So I can’t be disappointed. I have to thank the people (in the Legislature) for what they did and I certainly encourage them when they get back in the fall,” Corbett told reporters shortly after signing the bill at 10:15 p.m. in his reception room flanked by House Republicans, but no senators or Democratic lawmakers. “Let’s get it done. ... It’s the end of the first quarter. We’ve got three more quarters to go.”

The budget bill passed and Corbett acknowledged defeat, if just for a little while, on his wider agenda after a solid week of daily, private meetings with top Republican lawmakers, while he stayed largely out of view and lawmakers met in voting sessions.

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More action in the Legislature is expected Tuesday as lawmakers work to pass budget-related legislation necessary to ensure money is available and direct how it is spent.

A 111-92 House vote along party lines on the budget bill followed the more bipartisan Senate approval of the $28.4 billion spending plan, a 2.6 percent increase over the 2012-13 budget approved last year. The 2013-14 fiscal year begins Monday.

The budget plan would increase spending by $719 million, largely for health care for the poor, social services, public employee pensions, prisons and public schools. It also cuts business taxes by about $300 million and does not increase the state’s personal income or sales taxes.

Corbett said that “by spending with restraint, investing with care and keeping faith in the free-market system, we can continue that momentum toward prosperity.”

The spending bill is $65 million less than what Corbett proposed in February, and assumes retirement and pension costs will be substantially lower than what Corbett had projected. Democrats had sought, unsuccessfully, to free up even more money for schools, job training and other programs by erasing business tax cuts and counting on savings by approving a federally funded expansion of Medicaid eligibility.

State Rep. Mark Painter, D-146th Dist., said the 2013-14 state budget deserves a failing grade because it does not restore education funding levels to pre-Tom Corbett levels and therefore will lead to higher school property taxes.

“My constituents have been adamant that property tax relief is their top priority and I could not in good conscience vote for $28 billion in state spending that is sure to produce even higher property taxes in Montgomery County. That is simply unacceptable,” said Painter, D-Montgomery.

Painter said school districts in the 146th Legislative District have raised property taxes, laid off teachers and cut curriculum due to the nearly $1 billion the state cut from basic education statewide since the 2010-11 fiscal year.

He pointed to figures put together by the Democratic staff members of the House Appropriations Committee which show overall state contributions have been cut by $743,697 (8.7 percent cut) to the Pottsgrove School District, $1.43 million (13.1 percent cut) to the Pottstown School District and $902,996 (9.2 percent cut) to the Spring-Ford School District since Corbett took office.

However, Republican representatives Marcy Toepel, R-147th Dist. and David Maloney, R-130th Dist., both touted increases in funding to local school districts in their reaction to the budget’s passage.

“I am pleased that we were able to adopt a final $28.376 billion plan that prioritizes the investment in basic education,” Toepel said. “Budgets have been cut at all levels over recent years and this funding increase will help our local schools continue to serve our students with a quality education that will benefit them for the future.”

She pointed to increases in state funding for Boyertown, Perkiomen Valley and Upper Perkiomen school districts.

Information from Maloney’s office said the budget allocates $123 million in additional state funding to basic education, including an increase of $877,095 for the Boyertown Area School District and $569,946 for the Daniel Boone School District.

He said “investments in education and career training are the best way to prepare our children and young adults for good-paying jobs in the global economy.”

“This budget establishes a record high of $10 billion total state dollars invested in K-12 education,” said state Rep. Warren Kampf, R-157th Dist., who also pointed to the addition of $5 million “for early intervention to help children ages 3 to 5 with developmental disabilities.”

“The budget increases state support for early childhood education programs, with Pre-K Counts program funding increasing by $5 million for a total of $87.2 million and Head Start Assistance receiving an additional $2 million,” according to figures from state Sen. Bob Mensch, R-24th Dist.

State Sen. John Rafferty, R-44th Dist., who saw the legislature fail to reach consensus on the transportation bill he championed as the chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, highlighted increases in spending to Pennsylvania State Police, the attorney general’s office and drug, street crime and child predator task forces.

Corbett outlined a three-part agenda in January and February — increased transportation funding, privatized wine and liquor sales and changes in public employee pension systems. But his pensions proposal made little headway in the state Legislature and a showdown between the House and Senate sank efforts on liquor and transportation legislation before lawmakers’ summer break.

In a statement Sunday evening, Corbett asked the Senate and the House to immediately send the Senate’s wine and liquor bill to his desk.

However, the House Republican majority was unable to muster enough votes to pass an approximately $2 billion transportation bill it wrote, in large part because conservatives opposed its increase in a wholesale fuel tax and Democrats viewed it as inadequate, particularly for mass transit systems.

Meanwhile, the Senate’s Republican majority refused to approve a private wine and liquor sales bill without a commitment from House GOP leaders to send it to Corbett’s desk unchanged and approve the Senate’s biggest priority, a $2.5 billion transportation funding bill the chamber approved 45-5 earlier in June.

“Simply to send the (liquor) bill to the House with no assurance that it would go the governor’s desk seems like a meaningless exercise,” Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi said Sunday evening. “The other (concern) is the House does have a transportation bill that was sent to them that 45 members of the Senate are very concerned about and we’d like to see action on that bill.”

In another sign of trouble, Pileggi said the House Republican transportation bill lacked support in the Senate.

The Senate also approved legislation to potentially expand Medicaid eligibility to hundreds of thousands of adult Pennsylvanians under the 2010 federal health care law. With staunch opposition among House Republicans, the issue could become a sticking point as lawmakers consider the other budget-related bills.